KCRW Producer Sarah Spitz Called Out For Saying She Wouldn't Help Rush Limbaugh If He Had A Heart Attack (Would You?)

Respected KCRW (89.9 FM) producer and spokeswoman Sarah Spitz became the latest target of right-wing conspiracy theorists this week when quips she made about conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on an email listserve were made public by The Daily Caller (via LA Observed). (This week the Obama administration apologized to U.S. Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod who was forced out of her job after a conservative blog published comments she made on race out of context).

Spitz stated, via her private email account, that if Limbaugh had a heart attack in her presence she would "laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out."

We don't understand the controversy. That is exactly the prescribed and perfectly natural reaction to a King Ditto cardiac arrest ... We're just kideen!

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But seriously folks, here's the thing. Spitz was conversing with fellow journalists in a sort of virtual clubhouse, using her private email address, and expressing bar-stool views. And -- and this is a big AND -- to use these private views as an indication of one's supposed bias, particularly on-the-job, is a perilous road to travel.

For one, who's to say that some conservatives don't feel the same way about Limbaugh? To assume that watching in glee at the big man's death is a sign of anti-right bias is then to assume that anyone on the right or at least who is "fair and balanced" must agree with Limbaugh and wish him the best of health. So there are no red-state Ditto-haters?

This is a guy, by the way, who has been vehemently anti-drug but was arrested for doctor shopping for prescription pills and admitted being an narco-addict. You don't think this might have turned off a few conservatives?

Here's another thing: What one says while sitting on the virtual bar stool and what one actually does in life are often two different things. We're sure Spitz would do whatever one does during a Ditto-attack (CPR? Ask the nearest immigrant if she's a doctor?).

Dennis Romero is an L.A. Weekly staff writer. He formerly worked at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times, where he participated in Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the L.A. riots. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone online, the Guardian and, as a young stringer, the New York Times.